“The moderates seem to be concerned about the use of chemical weapons in Syria and want to distance Iran from this, but the hardliners, especially the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps), don’t seem to be taking that line, at least publicly,” Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Iran expert, told me. “So there is a gap in the Iranian leadership, however as the IRGC has a bigger say on Syria, they seem to be winning the day.”

I believe that over the coming weeks, this gap in the Iranian leadership will become larger.